Illuminated house number holder



Aug. 19, 1941.

E. L. HUEY ILLUMINATED HOUSE NUMBER HOLDER Filed Aug. 29, 1959 Patented Aug. 19, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,253,236 ILLUMINATED HOUSE. NUMBER HOLDER Everett L. Huey, Columbus, Ohio Application August 29, 1939, Serial No. 292,485

3 Claims.

This invention relates generally to signs and is more particularly directed to a sign of the type adaptedto be afiixed to the wall of a house or other building to receive the house number or other suitable informative indicia.

The primary object of this invention resides in the provision of a holder for a house number which will be in the form of a hollow casing having an electrically energized illuminating means disposed therein, the front wall of the casing being provided with a transparent or translucent panel on which the number or other indicia is positioned, the illuminating means serving to light up the panel in order that the numbers or lettersthereon will be Visible in the night seasons.

It is also an object of the invention to form the casing of the number holder from a single piece of material to reduce the cost of manufacture by eliminating unnecessary and expensive assembling operations.

A further object resides in providing the onepiece casing with an opening adjacent which channel. members are formed to receive and support the number-receiving panel, the channel means being so formed that the panel may be inserted or removed without requiring the removal of the casing from the supporting wall when it becomes necessary to change the light bulb or otherwise service the device.

, An object also may be found in so forming the casing that the means for securing it to the Wall of .thebuilding will be hidden from view and the appearance of the device thus improved.

Other objects will be apparent from the following description of the preferred form of the invention which has been illustrated in detail in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a house number holder formed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken through the device shown in Fig. 1 on the plane indicated by the line 11-11 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line III1'II of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4. is a plan view of a sheet metal blank from which the casing of the holder is formed prior to being bent into casing forming position;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical transverse sectional View taken through the indicia bearing panel of the holding device.

Referring more particularly to the drawing, the numeral l designates the casing which, in this instance, is formed of sheet metal stamped into all the tongues are bent along spaced parallel lines indicated in Fig. 4 by dotted lines. These tongues, when so bent, form channel and flange members 5, 6 and l, the first channel 5 being located at the lower edge of the opening when the casing is in position of service. The tongue from which the channel 6 is formed is longer than the other tongue for the channel 5 in order that the channel 6 will be of greater depth for a purpose to be hereinafter set forth. The body of the blank is also bent a1ong the dotted lines indicated in Fig. 4, a portion of the body being disposed in a plane parallel to and spaced rearwardly from the front wall portion to form the back wall 8 of the casing. This portion is provided with a pair of reduced openings 9 to receive screws orother elements employed in securing the casing to the building wall. 7

After the body portion has been bent to provide the bottom, top and rear walls, the wing sections of the blank are bent rearwardly to provide the side walls Ill and these members are secured to the top, bottom and rear Walls by welding or soldering operations: The lower edge of the rear wall is also secured to the rear edge of the bottom wall by a similar operation. When the Welding operations have been completed, the casing will be in the condition shown in Fig. 1. All of the edges are closed to exclude moisture or other foreign matter from the casing.

Prior to forming the body section, the portion thereof used to form the rear wall has a bracket member ll secured thereto. This member has an outwardly directed extension l2, to the outer portion of which is secured a lamp receiving socket l3, fiber or other dielectric washers l4 being employed to insulate the socket from the bracket. Below the bracket, the rear wall of the casing is provided with a third opening 15 through which current conducting wires extend to conduct the electric current to the lamp socket. The inner ends of the wires are connected with the socket by being soldered thereto as at [6. To prevent the sharp edges of the wall from cutting through the insulation on the wires, a. rubber bushing I! is afi'ixed to the wall around the edges of the opening I 5.

After the casing has been completely formed and secured to a suitable support, a lamp bulb I8 is positioned in the socket and the outer ends of the wires are connected to a suitable source of electric current. Th number-receiving panel I9 is then prepared for this position in the channels of the casing. In the form of the invention shown, the panel I9 is formed of glass and conforms substantially to the size and shape of the opening 4 in the front wall after the tongues 5, 6 and 1 have been bent into channel or flange formation. The rear surface of the glass is provided with paper letters or numbers'either glued or cemented to the rear surface of the panel; These numbers may then be covered with a suitable light colored paper to diffuse the light from the bulb I8.

It is obvious that, if desired, the numbers, instead of being opaque, couldbe light in color and the background covering of darker color. After the panel has been so prepared, it is positioned in the casing by inserting the upper edge in the upper channel 6 and raising the panel to a surficient extent to permit the lower edge'of the panel to pass over the lower edge of the opening at which time the rear side edges of the panel will engage the flanges formed from the tongue 1. When the panel is released, it will drop down and the lower edge will be disposed within the channel after which, the device" is in condition for use.

The exterior surfaces of the casing may be suitably finished by painting, enameling or polishing and the interior surface may be likewise finished to provide reflecting properties. When the lamp w is illuminated, the light will be diffused by the background paper and the numbers which, in this instance, are opaque will stand out in sharp relief, making the numbers visible from considerable distances, In the event it becomes necessary to replace the lamp or re-' move thecasing'from the wall on which it is positioned, it is merely required to apply gentle upward'pressure to the panel to" move the upper edge into the channel 6, then the lower edge can be moved outwardly through the opening in the front wall and the panel entirely removed. Since the distance between the bottom walls of the channels is greater than the height of the panel, this upward movement to remove or replace the panel is made possible.

It will be readily apparent that the numbers or other indiciamay be formed from suitable materials other than paper or they may be direct- 1y painted upon the panel which, if desired, may be formed from any light transmitting material, glass merely being suggested because it is convenient and readily obtainable. It is also obvious that the casing of the device may be formed from materials other than sheet metal.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that an improved house number holder has been provided which is simple to construct, convenient to install and will make the numbers carried thereby.

readily discernible either in daylight or after dark. While only the preferred form of the invention has been illustrated and described, many minor changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In an illuminated house number holder, a casing formed from a sheet metal blank having integral body and wing sections, said body sectionhaving'an elongated opening formed therein, tongue means formed with said body and projecting into said opening, the tongues at the longer sides of said opening being bent to form channel members, the other tongues being bent to provide flange means, the body of said blankalso being bent to provide the bottom, front, top and rear walls of said casing, and the wing sections being bent and secured to the body section to provide the side walls of said casing.

2. In a house number holder, a casing formed from a one-piece sheet-like blank having a rectangular body with wing sections secured to the endsand one side edge, said body section having an elongated opening formed therein, tongue means formed with said body and projecting into said opening, the tongues at a pair of opposed sides being bent to form channel members and the other tongues being bent to provide flange means, said body being bent to provide bottom, front and top walls for said casing, the wing at the side being bent to provide the rear wall and the wings at the ends of the body being bent to provide the side walls, the meeting free edges of said wings and body being connected toretain the casing in completed form.

3-. In ahouse number holder, a casing formed from acne-piece sheet-like blank having a rectangular body with wing sections secured to the ends and one side edge, said body section having an elongated opening formed therein, tongue means formed with said body and projecting into said opening, the tongues at a pair of 0pposed sides being bent to form channel members and the other tongues being bent to provide flange means, said body being bent to provide bottom, front and top walls for said casing, the wings at the ends of said body section being bent rearwardly to form side walls having inwardly projecting flanges at the rear edges, and the wing section at the side edge of said body being bent and secured to the rear edge of the bottom wall and the flanges of the side walls to retain the casing in completed form.

EVERETT L. HUEY. 

